Just goes to show how important starting pitching is; most of those staffs are a very talented bunch.

SpartanSoxFan

10-01-2008, 08:19 PM

What baffles me the most is Jaime "The Ageless Wonder" Moyer. How that guy managed to put numbers together this season (3.71 ERA, 16-7 Record) that mirror Gavin's at 46 years old is AMAZING. :scratch:

DSpivack

10-01-2008, 08:26 PM

What baffles me the most is Jaime "The Ageless Wonder" Moyer. How that guy managed to put numbers together this season (3.71 ERA, 16-7 Record) that mirror Gavin's at 46 years old is AMAZING. :scratch:

I believe he is the oldest non-knuckleballer to win that many games, but I could be wrong.

asindc

10-01-2008, 08:29 PM

I probably would put our staff ahead of the Phillies', but no big deal. All quality staffs.

Pear-Zin-Ski

10-01-2008, 08:45 PM

More ammo for us I guess....

swish

10-01-2008, 09:50 PM

Well the 1 or 2 team will be out before we face them, and the number 3 team didn't look so hot tonight...

Dibbs

10-01-2008, 09:58 PM

They are all pretty good and ranking them is silly. I would say ours is better than the Phillies for sure though. I disagree about Angels being #1. I say bring on the Angels.

LoveYourSuit

10-02-2008, 12:41 AM

I think those ratings are heavily rated on season stats rather than on who is hot and who is not.

I don't know if we are hot or not. It's hard to hang our hats on what we have seen the last 3 nights because of how bad things were the week before.

Mohoney

10-02-2008, 12:57 AM

It's funny that the Ryan Dempster myth finally gets exposed as a fraud. He really isn't all that good.

chisoxfanatic

10-02-2008, 01:11 AM

It's funny that the Ryan Dempster myth finally gets exposed as a fraud. He really isn't all that good.
It really looked like all of the extra innings he pitched this year had finally caught up to him.

Billy Ashley

10-02-2008, 07:33 AM

First off all, Crasnick never seems to know what he's talking about. He uses the same generalizations and flawed logic one would see displayed between two people arguing about baseball at a bowling alley.

Second of all, both the Chicago teams are ranked too low. I'd argue the Cubs should be number one, with the White Sox being closer to the middle of the pack.

I'd place the Angels third. Lackey is a stud and Santana is a very good young pitcher but if one takes a long hard look at his peripherals they'll see that Saunders just isn't that good. While the same can be said of Floyd, he's hot right now and Danks has been very very good this season. Additionally Buehrle continues to be criminally underrated, he's essentially the equivalent of Frank Viola, only more durable.

So yeah, I'd likely rank them:

Cubs
Red Sox
Angels

Virtual tie between
White Sox
Dodgers
Rays

Phillies
Brewers

Beyond the bottom two number ones I have litter respect for their rotations. Though Gallardo is very talented.

For the full season, the Angels' top 3 had one more win than our top 3, and despite a similar ERA, had ten less losses. Run support anyone? In the second half I would argue that our top 3 has been better. Point of this? Our top 3 is just as good as anyone else's.

palehozenychicty

10-02-2008, 10:21 AM

I probably would put our staff ahead of the Phillies', but no big deal. All quality staffs.

I second that. Myers is just such a wild card. If he's on, I think they could get to the Series. If he's off, there's going to be indigestion at Geno's, Pat's, and Jim's until Sunday when the Eagles play. :D:

MHOUSE

10-02-2008, 08:03 PM

Starting pitching is important as ever, but not as much as the staff on the whole. Therefore, the Angels and Cubs are overrated, the Red Sox and Phillies are underrated. The biggest challenges for the Sox and Brewers are fatigue/clinching late, the Rays are just so young, and the Dodgers have a dangerous bat or two now, but they don't have a number 1 ace starter or a number one bullpen guy. I like Broxton, but he can be erratic at times. I'd rank the pitching staffs as:

Phillies - awesome bullpen up to 3 or 4 innings deep. Hamels is awesome, Myers is clutch, and Moyer is ageless.
Cubs - Lots of questions with which Z will show up, but rotation is 4 deep and the bullpen is solid
Red Sawx - Papelbon is sick, especially in the clutch and no talks about Lester and Dice-K. If Beckett brings his postseason A-Game watch out.
Angels - Starters are solid and 3 deep, but aside from their flashy freakshow in the 9th, I don't know how good Shields/Oliver are
White Sox - I like Danks, Floyd, Buehrle, Jenks/Thornton, but the middle innings are suspect
Rays - Lots of talent, but so young
Dodgers - Lowe is a veteran and solid, but Kuroda is a little shaky and with Kuo down their bullpen is suspect
Brewers - too much work for CC down the stretch. Who will start the other 3 games in a series? He's gassed. Torres is unreliable, but Gagne and Shouse have been good down the stretch.